


Merry Christmas, Jughead Jones

by sarahxxxlovey



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Archie Andrews is a Good Friend, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Tree, Domestic Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Jughead Jones Loves Betty Cooper, Tooth ache level fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-25
Updated: 2017-11-25
Packaged: 2019-02-06 15:22:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12820404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahxxxlovey/pseuds/sarahxxxlovey
Summary: “Why must you do this to me, Betty Cooper?” he sighed. “Fine, if it’ll make you happy, you can decorate this room but that’s it, do you hear me? One room. No pink.”Betty wants to decorate the trailer for Christmas.





	Merry Christmas, Jughead Jones

“You may be an enigma, Betty Cooper, but you’re also a walking cliché,” Jughead joked as he carried her books from the car into his dad’s trailer. “Christmas decorations? Seriously?”

“Juggy—” she started back.

“You’re not decorating the trailer for Christmas,” he said sternly as he pushed the door open for her with his back. “Jesus, do you know how silly that sounds? A _trailer_ decorated for Christmas?”

She rolled her eyes at the fact that she had seen multiple locations on the way in to the park that had been decorated but decided on a different approach.

“It’s fine,” she said softly, setting her bag down and fiddling with a loose string on her light gray sweater. “I just thought it’d be a nice thing to do, but it’s fine.” He set the books down and looked at her.

“Betty,” he said (less sternly, she noticed), “We don’t need Christmas decorations. Seriously.”

“Not even if it’ll make me happy?” she said, pulling a complete puppy dog face, pushing her bottom lip out slightly and giving him the big eyes that she knew he couldn’t say no to.

Putting his two hands around her waist, he looked down at her. She placed her hands on his forearms and she could physically see the moment when he gave in, his shoulders sagging under the weight of how much influence she had on him.

“Why must you do this to me, Betty Cooper?” he sighed. “Fine, if it’ll make you happy, you can decorate this room but that’s it, do you hear me? One room. No pink.”

She let out a victorious squeal and jumped up and down, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing his cheek. His heart melted slightly and suddenly he didn’t care about his traditions, he would do anything to see that smile.

* * *

Christmas time made Bettys’ heart swell. She didn’t care if her boyfriend called her a walking cliché for obsessing over the perfect diameter of tinsel and ratio of wrapping paper and ribbon. She loved the season for everything that it represented, for the way that snow made everyone’s eyes sparkle, how the shops lit up with golden lights. She loved spending weeks thinking of the perfect gift for Archie and her parents and Polly.

Even if to him everything seemed so trivial, when his dad was in jail and his adoptive dad had been shot and they’d gone through roller coaster after roller coaster, she wanted to make it special. She knew that the last few years of Jughead’s life hadn’t exactly been ideal. The last Christmas he’d had was filled with letdowns and was probably spent at the Andrews, the two high school freshmen and a single father. FP had been off on a binge at that time, with Jughead spending his time partly between the trailer and partly at Archie’s. Even with Jughead's renewed relationship with FP, things were rocky. 

She was determined to replace at least one of the bad memories with the good ones.

She walked down the aisles of the town’s general store, trying to decide between a traditional gold and red tree or doing something more colorful. On one hand, the color would liven up the living area, but on the other hand, the muted red tones would probably compliment the tones of the room better. She eventually decided on the traditional route and put a box of 50 mixed shaped red and gold ornaments into the cart, going for the second-least expensive ones as opposed to the most expensive like she wanted to, rolling her eyes at Jughead’s voice that popped into her head when she considered taking the more expensive ones. He wouldn’t want her to spend a fortune but she also wants them to last, to make sure they’d still look nice in a couple of years if they ever wanted to dust off the decorations and put them out again.

The ornaments happened to be at the front of the store, but she had to go to back to find the rest: some sparkling tinsel, glowing white tree lights, a vibrant poinsettia plant, and most importantly, a tree topper. She resisted the urge to buy garland and a door wreath, but gave in when she saw the sheepdog and crown ornaments. Surely, Jughead would appreciate those?

The cashier rang her up and she surveyed her goods, feeling content not only with the deals that she got but also with the visualization of how they’d look together.

“Hey, Arch?” she said into her phone as she started the engine of her car, placing her spoils in the passenger seat next to her.

“Hi, Betty, what’s up? You okay?” Betty smiled at his platonic care.

“Yeah, I just need help with something. I need a Christmas tree…”

* * *

 When Jughead got home, Betty was waiting for him in her car, playing music through the stereo and blasting the heat.

He wrapped his knuckles on her window and she startled before beaming at him, rolling down her window and shivering at the cold that poured in.

“Hi,” she said, leaning against the steering wheel.

“Buy enough stuff, Betts?” he laughed, leaning into the car to look at all her bags.

“They were having a sale… And…”

“You wanted to?” he laughed and she blushed.

“Can we just go inside? It’s freezing,” she replied curtly. He pulled open her car door and grabbed the bags from the other side, unlocking the front door and pushing it open for her. She kissed him on the cheek on her way in and set the bags down on the couch.

“There’s something else,” she said shyly, sitting on the couch and starting to unravel some of the gold tinsel. Jughead slowly turned to look at her, his brows narrow and shoulders hunched.

“What?” he said slowly.

“Archie’s bringing a tree,” she said, quickly standing up and touching her hands to his arms. “But it’s just a little one that he found that a neighbor said he could cut down and I know you didn’t want anyone to spend a ton of money and—"

“That’s it? Archie’s bringing a tree?” Jughead laughed. “Okay.”

“You’re not mad?” she looked up with those big eyes again and he couldn’t help but take her neck in his hands and press a firm kiss to her lips.

“I told you that you could decorate, didn’t I?” he replied.

“Well yeah, but I didn’t know if you’d be mad or upset,” she smiled softly back at him.

“Archie’s family, I don’t care if he knows we are or aren’t decorating,” he gave her a big hug and was interrupted by a knock.

“Andrews Tree Delivery Service!” Archie called through the door. Betty scrambled excitedly onto the couch to look out the window at him while Jughead opened to the door to find his best friend with a ginormous smile and smallish sort of tree under his arm.

“Merry Christmas, Jug,” he exclaimed brightly, dragging the tree in with one hand while holding a tree stand in the other.

“Oh, Archie, it’s perfect!” Betty squealed, scrunching up her shoulders and arms as she bounced up and down over to Archie to give him a one-armed hug. “Set it up over in this corner. I think it’ll look best there plus you’ll be able to see it through the window and—“

Jughead lost his focus and instead watched his lovable, easygoing best friend place the tree exactly as his loving, perfectionist girlfriend wanted it. She hadn’t stopped bouncing since Archie had come in, talking rapidly about the way she was going to decorate the tree. Archie sat down on the couch when Betty was satisfied with the angle and placement and asked Jughead how school was going, giving Betty an opportunity to pull a roll of sugar cookie dough out of her bags and place thin slices onto a baking sheet.

“Whatcha doing there, Cooper?” Jughead called out to her.

“Making cookies,” she called back.

“I knew I was dating you for a reason,” he replied as his stomach grumbled.

 “They’re not homemade, but they’ll smell divine and you can save a few and leave them out for Santa!”

“Betty, you know as well as I do that those cookies aren’t going to last through tonight let alone until Christmas,” Jughead laughed. Betty scowled playfully at him around the wall and turned the oven to preheat before sitting next to him on the couch.

“Will you stay and help us decorate the tree?” Betty called to Archie.

“I can stay for like ten minutes, then I gotta run. Veronica wants me to look at outfits for their Christmas party or something like that,” Archie replied with an eye roll.

“Nice,” Jughead replied, his voice low and joking.

“You in a place to talk, man?” Archie laughed, his face breaking into his full grin. “Is this your ideal way to spend a day?” Jughead shrugged and grinned back, Archie’s contagious smile reaching his bones.

“Okay,” Betty clapped, “Let’s decorate the tree!”

The three of them stood and, with Betty’s direction, wrapped the white lights around the tree, adding the ornaments to the side that wasn’t against the wall. Archie filled Jughead in on something that had happened at school with a kid they’d gone to kindergarten with and Jughead talked to the other two about a story that he was working on at school. Betty stood, practically silent and glowing from the lights, placing ornaments carefully and gracefully, listening to the stories from the boys.

Archie checked his phone and swore at the time, giving both of them a hug before rushing out the door, lamenting his early departure before the cookies were ready.

“It looks so good,” Betty beamed as Jughead let himself fall into the sweet embrace of the worn couch. “I love Christmas.”

“It does look good,” Jughead agreed, watching her carefully as she inspected every inch to ensure it met her high standards. She strung more tinsel along the door frames and fluffed the tree one last time.

It had gotten dark by now, the sun dipping down below the tree line to leave the trailer moody and picturesque.

“Just one more thing,” she said softly, pulling a final box from the paper general store bags and setting it on her lap to peel back the clear tape keeping it shut.

“What’s that?” he replied, mirroring her tone.

“Every Christmas tree needs a star, Juggy,” she said matter-of-factly. She pulls out a metal star from the box, smiling. “You want to do the honors?”

“You can do it,” he said, wanting to see the way her eyes light up when she does something that she loves.

“You sure?” her face melted slightly, her eyes widening slightly with hope.

“Yes,” he chuckled.

He could see her brain debating whether or not to drag one of the kitchen chairs but eventually decides that she can reach the top herself and walks over to the tree, reaching up to place the star on top. She has to readjust, wiggling into the branches slightly and stretching far enough that a small sliver of her stomach peeked out from beneath her sweater.

He pulls out his phone and snaps a picture of her, the soft planes of her face glowing from the lights, her smile lining her lips softly, placing the star on the top of the Christmas tree in the front room of his trailer.

She looks over at him, surprised at the digital sound of his camera’s shutter, and shakes her head, repressing a grin and Jughead is caught in the moment how much he loves the girl in front of him, who selflessly loves and sacrifices him and makes his life better with everything she has. She caught him staring and blushed, walking over to him.

“Merry Christmas, Juggy,” she said, wrapping her arms around his waist and leaning into his side.

“Merry Christmas, Betts,” he replied, placing an arm around her and a kiss to the top of her head, looking at the light that his girlfriend brought into his home.

**Author's Note:**

> It's almost Christmas time! I absolutely love Christmas fluff and felt very strongly that Betty would want to decorate for Jughead. Also Archie, I like him as a sweetie and not as a jerk LOL
> 
> Please leave a review with your thoughts! I'd love to hear some feedback :)


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